Hat suspension package and method of making same



April 1955 L. F. RADILE 2,706,555

HAT SUSPENSION PACKAGE AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed May 14, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet l 10 I 26 1f I s L7 L4 IP26 17 IN VENTOR Paciiie ATTORNEYS April 19, 1955 L. F. RADILE 2,706,555

HAT SUSPENSION PACKAGE AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed May 14, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 1N VENTOR Ziam's' F Rad; Ze

ATTORNEY BY MEQL United States Patent HAT SUSPENSION PACKAGE AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Louis F. Radile, Bethel, Conn.

Application May 14, 1953, Serial No. 354,980

12 Claims. (Cl. 206-9) This invention relates to hat suspension packages or boxes for shipping and storing felt hats, particularly mens hats of the type having a crown and a brim, and to methods of making said packages or boxes.

Heretofore difliculty has been encountered in the packaging of mens felt hats for storage or shipment, in that the brims have been marked and/or distorted or deformed by the package. The common practice has been to support the hats by the brims in order that the crown portions of the hats are not marked or forced out of shape. This has been accomplished in prior packages by providing, for example in a hat box, a number of superposed partition members having oval openings to receive with clearance the crown portions of the hat, and by providing either slitted or non-slitted (balloon) suspension rings or annuli which are carried by the partition members and which engage the hat brim and maintain the hat centralized in the oval opening. with the brim out of contact with the partition member.

Due to movement of the hat during shipment, or even support of the hat brim the latter has been marked and also distorted from its original shape.

The above difficulties and disadvantages are overcome by the present invention, and an object of the invention is to provide an improved hat suspension package which will securely hold one or several hats in suspension and against movement within a hat box, without marking or distorting the hat brims or crowns, and to provide an improved and simplified method of making said package.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved hat supporting means as above set forth, which is simple in construction and economical to fabricate.

A feature of the invention is the provision of improved yieldable support means which engages both the hat brim and the base of the crown of the hat, thereby to positively prevent relative movement between the hat and support and consequent deformation of the hat.

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a hat suspension box made in accordance with the invention, carrying a plurality of felt hats in nested relation.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1 with the hats removed.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a partition member of the suspension package.

Figs. 4, 5 and 6 show progressive steps in the formation of a modified form of improved suspension member made in accordance with the method of the invention.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary plan view of the partition member of Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary vertical section through a hat suspension package incorporating the partition member shown in Figs. 4 through 7.

Referring to Figs. 1 through 3 the improved hat suspension package of this invention comprises a box 10 which may be of the usual oval shape having curved side walls 11, an oval bottom wall 12 and an oval removable cover 13.

Within the box 10 circular or annular spacer members 14 are provided, formed of cardboard or other sheet material bent into a ring shape with overlapping ends.

In accordance with the invention for the purpose of suspending felt hats 15 against movement in the box 10 and preventing marking and/ or deformation of the brims 16 of said hats I provide novel partition members 17 carried on the spacer members 14. Each partition member 17 is formed of sheet material such as cardboard and comprises a flat ring-like body portion 18 having an oval opening 19 of sufficiently large size to admit the crown of a hat 15 with substantial clearance. Projecting upwardly from the right-like portion 18 of the member 17 are flat, resilient fingers 20, preferably formed of the same stock as the ring 18. The fingers 20 may be advantageously formed by making radial slits in the stock or sheet of which the ring 18 is constituted, and by impressing an oval crease line 21 in the stock to enable the fingers 20 to be readily bent upward and to remain biased inward. Within the oval opening 19 of the partition member 17 and carried by the fingers 20 thereof is a brim-engaging ring 22, having outwardly curled opposite edges 23 and 24, the ring 22 being formed by bending a strip of sheet material and overlapping the ends of the strip. The ring 22 may be a balloon ring, in which the curled edges 23 are unslit or continuous, or it may be a slotted ring as shown, wherein the outturned curls have numerous cuts 25 to make it more yielding or resilient. The ring 22 is supported by the upturned resilient finger 20 of the partition member 17 as clearly shown in Fig. 1, the bottom curled edge 23 of the ring engaging the undersurface of the partition member and the upper curled edge 24 of the ring engaging the brim 16 of the hat adjacent the crown thereof, and engaging the base of the crown or the ribbon carried thereby. By the inward bias of the fingers 20 the ring 22 is held to the smallest possible circumference as permitted by the size of the hat being supported, and the ring will always hug the base of the crown of the hat and prevent movement or shifting of the hat.

By this organization the resilient fingers 20, by continually pressing inward against the hat-engaging ring 22 and tending to reduce the size or circumference of the ring 22, provide a greatly improved support for the hat. The ring 22, by not only engaging the brim 16 of the hat but also the base of the crown of the hat or more correctly the hat ribbon which extends around the base of the crown, provides a firm yet yielding support which prevents movement of the hat and therefore marking of the felt. At the same time, it does not distort or deform the hat brim 16. I have found that the improved resilient and yielding support provided above completely eliminates, during both shipment and storage, undesirable marking or deformation of the hat regardless of rough handling or length of time of storage. Where a plurality of hats are to be carried in the box 10, additional partition members 17 and rings 22 may be provided to support the additional hats in the manner described above. The lower outturned curls 23 of the rings 22 will engage the hat brims at points opposite to the engagement by the upper outturned curls 24, thereby protecting the brims against said deformation while at the same time securely holding them in the desired suspended position. Moreover, the crown portions of the hats 15 will be securely positioned in the box 10 and will not come in contact with each other or with the bottomwall 12 of the box.

In order to position the spacing members 14 and prevent them from slipping past the outer-edges of the partition members 17 the latter are provided with upstanding tabs 26 which are disposed outside of the members 14, as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 3. g

In accordance with the present invention an improved modified partition member 27 is provided, which is adapted to replace both the partition member 17 and the supporting ring 22 while still providing the advantages of these latter. The member 27, Fig. 6, comprises a flat ring-shaped body portion 28 having substantially radially extended ribs 29 joining an annular rib 30. From the latter rib, flat resilient fingers 31 extend upward, terminating in outturned hooks or curls 32 adapted to engage the brim and base of the crown of a hat. The body portion 28 has upstanding tabs 33 for positioning the spacer members 14. In fabricating the partition member 27 a novel method is provided, in accordance with the invention. The member 27 is preferably formed of a single piece of sheet material. Referring to Fig. 4, a preform may be fabricated, as by molding paper pulp into the form of a flat disk having the radial ribs 29 1nd the annular rib 30, and having a frusto-conical cener portion 34 and positioning tabs 33. After the pre- ?orrn of Fig. 4 has been fabricated, the center portion 34 1nd the body portion disposed within the annular rib 30 s slit radially to form the fingers 31. These fingers and 1150 the tabs 33 are then bent upward, preferably by the 1se of moisture and heat, into the shape shown in Fig. 6.

Referring to Fig. 8 a plurality of improved partition nembers 27 is shown in a hat box 10, supporting hats 15 ,n spaced, suspended relation. The extremities 32 of the resilient fingers 31 engage the brim of the hat and also the base of the crown or the ribbon disposed around the base of the crown. The annular rib 30 engages the brim of the next lower hat at points opposite to the engagement by the extremities 32 of the fingers. Thus the hats 15 are supported securely in the box 10 and prevented from shifting with respect to the supporting fingers 31. The fingers 31 may be biased inwardly so as to firmly engage the base of the crown portion of the hat, and by virtue of such engagement, and by virtue of the resiliency of the fingers, marking of the hat will be prevented, as will also distortion of the hat brim and crown.

Variations and modifications may be made within the scope of the claims and portions of the improvements may be used without others.

I claim:

1. A hat-supporting partition member for a hat suspension package comprising a ring of sheet material having an oval-shaped opening large enough to receive with clearance the crown of a felt hat, said ring having a plurality of resilient fingers of sheet material disposed around said opening and extending upward from the inner periphery of the ring for supporting the brim of a hat, said fingers being suificiently the hat brim spaced from the ring when the brim is being supported thereby; and means carried by said fingers and disposed at the extremities thereof, extending outwardly in substantially radial directions from central points of the opening defined by said fingers and presenting generally broad surfaces for engagement with said hat brim to support the hat without marking the material thereof.

2. The invention as defined in claim 1 in which the resilient fingers are biased inwardly toward each other, to confine the crown of the hat and prevent sidewise movement of the latter.

3. A hat-supporting partition member for a hat suspension package comprising a ring of sheet material having an oval-shaped opening large enough to receive with clearance the crown of a felt hat, said ring rality of resilient fingers of sheet material disposed around said opening and extending upward from the inner periphery of the ring, said fingers having out-curled extremities for engaging and supporting the brim of a hat, said fingers being sufiiciently long to maintain all portions of the hat brim spaced from the ring when the brim is being supported thereby.

4. A hat suspension package comprising a box; a hatsupporting partition member in said box, extending to and engaging opposite side walls of the box; means for holding said member in operative position in the box to maintain a hat in spaced relation to the walls of the box, said member being constituted of a ring of sheet material having an oval-shaped opening large enough to receive with clearance the crown of a felt hat, said ring having a plurality of resilient fingers of sheet material disposed around said opening and extending upward from the inner periphery of the ring for supporting the brim of a hat, said fingers being sufficiently long to maintain all portions of the hat brim spaced from the ring when the brim is being supported thereby; and means carried by said fingers and disposed at the extremities thereof, extending outwardly in substantially radial directions from central points of the opening defined by said fingers and presenting generally broad surfaces for engagement with said hat brim to support the hat without marking the material thereof.

5. The invention as defined in claim 4 in which there is a plurality of said partition members in said box, and a plurality of means for holding said members in operative positions one above the other whereby the hats are "suspended in the box in nested, spaced relation.

long to maintain all portions of having a plu- 6. A hat suspension package comprising a box; a hatsupporting partition member in said box; and means for holding said member in operative position in the box to maintain a hat in spaced relation to the walls of the box, said partition member comprising a ring of sheet material having an oval-shaped opening large enough to receive with clearance the crown of a felt hat, and having a plurality of resilient fingers of sheet material disposed around said opening and extending upward from the inner periphery of the ring, said fingers having outwardly-curled extremities for engaging and supporting the brim of a hat, and being sufiiciently long to maintain all portions of the hat brim spaced from the ring when the brim is being supported thereby.

7. The invention as defined in claim 6 in which there is a plurality of partition members in said box and a plurality of annuli of bent sheet material for holding the members in operative positions one above the other, thereby to support a plurality of hats in nested, spaced rela- 8. A hat suspension package comprising a box; a hatsupporting partition member in said box; and means for holding said member in operative position in the box to maintain a hat in spaced relation to the walls of the box, said partition member comprising a ring of sheet material having an oval-shaped opening large enough to receive with clearance the crown of a felt hat, and having a plurality of resilient fingers of sheet material disposed around said opening and extending upward from the inner periphery of the ring for supporting the brim of a hat, said fingers being sufficiently long to maintain all portions of the hat brim spaced from the ring when the brim is being supported thereby; and an annulus formed of sheet material bent into a band with its end portions in overlapping relation, disposed in the oval-shaped opening of the ring and supported by the resilient fingers thereof, said annulus having outwardly curled opposite edges, one edge engaging the underside of the ring and the other edge being adapted to engage the brim of the hat.

9. The invention as defined in claim 8 in which the outwardly curled edges of the annulus are slotted to provide a resilient supporting edge for the hat brim.

10. In a hat suspension package, a hat supporting partition member comprising a ring of sheet material having an oval-shaped opening large enough to receive with clearance the crown of a felt hat and having a plurality of resilient fingers of sheet material disposed around said opening and extending upward from the inner periphery of the ring for supportingthe brim of a hat, said fingers being sufficiently long to maintain all portions of the hat brim spaced from the ring when the brim is being supported thereby; and an annulus disposed in the ovalshaped opening of the ring, bent of a strip of sheet material with overlapping ends, saidannulus having opposite, outwardly curled edges for engagement with said ring and the hat brim respectively.

11. The method of making a hat-supporting partition member for a hat suspension package which includes the steps of molding pulp into a substantially fiat ring having a frusto-conical center portion, slitting the frusto-conical center portion and adjacent inner portions of the ring to form a plurality of flat fingers, and bending the fingers to extend them substantially normal to the plane of the ring.

12. The method of making a hat-supporting partition member for a hat suspension package which includes the steps of molding pulp into a substantially flat ring having a frusto-conical center portion and strengthening ribs extending inward from the outer periphery of the ring, slitting the frusto-conical center portion and adjacent inner portions of the ring to form a plurality of flat fingers, and bending the fingers to extend them substantially normal to the plane of the ring.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

